My fiance recently received a call from a collection agent on behalf of a physical therapist she had seen three years ago. This is the second time we are dealing with this issue. Here is the background.
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She saw the physical therapist after a car accident. All of the bills were originally submitted to our insurance company. For some reason, our insurance company did not pay the bills, and we were never invoiced directly so we did not know it had not been paid. One year ago, we received a call from the same collection agent saying we owed $535. We contacted the physical therapist, explained that we had never been billed, and got them to pull the account out of collections. They sent the information to our insurance company again, and our insurance paid. It seemed that it was all taken care of.
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A month ago, we received another call from the collection agent, again saying we owed $535. After several calls to the physical therapist and our insurance company, we discovered that the original invoice was for a total of ~$2000. Our insurance company paid out only $730 because we had reached the max for our policy.  However, after receiving the $730 from our insurance company, the physical therapist never contacted us for the remaining balance, which is now $1270. I am also at a loss as to why teh collection agent was seeking $535 in the first instance, and why they are seeking that amount now.  We have reviewed the number of visits and everything seems accurate as to the original total, so the $535 baffles me.
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We have asked the physical therapist to pull the account from collections again. This time they refuse (actually she says she can’t). I find this particularly unfair since we were never invoiced, and after they contacted us a year ago and our insurance company paid we thought this was taken care of. Since they never sent a bill directly to us, we did not realize there was an underpayment, indeed our insurance company paid more than the amount the collection agent was seeking. Further, we updated our contact information with them at the time and they still never sent us any communication seeking the remaining balance.
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My questions are:
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1. Is it true that they can’t pull the account out of collections? For example, if they completely sold the debt do we have to deal with the collection agent or is it always within the OC’s discretion to pull the account back?
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2. Is there any way to force the OC to pull the account back if they never invoiced us for the debt?
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3. Any thoughts on the discrepancy between the $1270 remaining balance and the $535 the collection agent is seeking. Is it possible they only sold a portion of the debt?Â
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Any advice on this is much appreciated. Right now it is not reporting to my fiance’s credit. We would like to avoid this reporting as it seems grossly unfair for them to go directly to a colleciton agent without invoicing us.
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Thanks in advance.
In December 2010, the fridge and dryer died. In January our house went into foreclosure. In February, our furnace died and we had to evacuate the house for a day due to high levels of carbon monoxide. Thankfully my brother in law replaces furnaces for a living and put one in at cost for $1400 (there went our tax check). In March, the washer died. The washer and dryer, I bought as a used appliance off of a one year lease. I negotiated a cash buy price for them ($270 for a 1 year old Duet gas dryer and $265 for a used washer that looked brand new. Sold the old washer for parts for $75). Then I did a 90 days same as cash deal with them. That gave me the chance to make sure the appliances worked well. Did the same for the fridge, but bought that new. I negotiated a cash price and then a 90 days same as cash. I always thought rent a center was not a place that I would go to. I really did get some great appliance deals. They are paid for (except washer, that will be paid in June).